


Fortunes May Lie

by jason6297



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Losers Club Reunion (IT), Non-graphic descriptions of self-harm, Self-Harm, The Bath Scene (IT) but better now, this references Stan having a crush on Bill as a kid but can be overlooked and isn't important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jason6297/pseuds/jason6297
Summary: A Bath never filled with blood, Bill's voice saying "If we stick together, all of us, we can win" saving one Stanley Uris from self-sacrifice, the Losers all reunite with warm embraces and smiling faces. Of course, they still have to kill a fucking clown, but that's for a different story...
Relationships: Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris, The Losers Club & Stanley Uris
Kudos: 10





	Fortunes May Lie

**Author's Note:**

> i hate stephen king. my city now

Stan Uris was not pleased about returning to his horrendous home town. He huffed in discontent as he parked his rental car, irritably off-center, and rested his head against the seat. A phone call earlier that week had been a rather rude way to suddenly realize he only had vague recollections of growing up. Patricia had admitted to him, once, that she suspected he had repressed his entire childhood due to a recurring trauma, but he honestly couldn’t confirm nor deny her theory until four nights prior.

  
Said evening was a disaster from the moment it turned sour. An initially awkward conversation led to Stan retiring for the night, “finishing some paperwork”, and taking a soak suspiciously late in the evening. He had shut himself in the bathroom with shaking hands, felt he filled half the tub with panicked tears, and broke apart a (brand new, wastefully) razor and was slicing rather hesitant lines into his skin when his wife had unapologetically swung the door open.

  
Patricia was not exactly paying the fullest attention while her husband murmured into the phone in the other room, never being the best at splitting her attention. She had nodded in dismissal and gave a loving smile to Stan when he excused himself to the study, and only realized after the tap quit that it was suspicious to be on in the first place. She had full intentions of interrogating her own husband, and was shocked to hear a soft “I swear, Bill” as he had dropped something onto the tiled floor with a metallic _ping_!

  
Stan had turned with a rather tired smile to face her, apologized softly in such a sad tone Patty yearned never to hear again, and asked for her to fetch some bandages. She listened lovingly to Stan explain how he had just remembered, as a child he had the biggest crush on the stupidest boy he has ever met to date, and got into a lot of danger on his behalf, and had to again for the very same reason. Accepting promises to explain “once it has been dealt with”, Patty pressed the lightest of kisses to his bandaged wrists and all but dragged Stan into bed.

  
Stan had only managed to leave for Maine once his wife had been assured his bandages came off clean for three re-wrappings. He had called back a familiar not-stranger to inform of his expected arrival, but refused to explain the delay. And here he was, in the parking lot of a restaurant he didn’t recognize, about to meet a group of people he was nervous to rediscover.

  
Door shut and car locked, Stan made his way inside. A hostess quickly escorted him to the table reserved by Mike Hanlon, full of life and filled with food. No one had been paying much attention to anything except the banter at the table and the plates in front of them, so Stan cleared his throat and offered a hesitant “Sorry I’m late.”

  
“St- is that Stanley?!” Stan instantly zeroed in on the familiar voice, head shifting to search for the source. He knew who it was before he recognized them, answering without any hesitation, as if instinct. “Rich?”

  
Richie leapt from the table, tripping because his legs couldn’t carry him fast enough. Stan took a half-step back in surprise before being engulfed in an overwhelming sense of home. A specific feeling he did not expect to recognize, different from the one he had crafted for himself over the past handful of years. A sense of familiarity, belonging, family, love; something he had somehow managed to forget yet never truly let go of.

  
Richie squeezed him ever harder, as if trying to merge their physical forms to be just as acquainted as their souls. Stan absently thought if Richie was any stronger, he would end up in the hospital for reasons completely unrelated to his frantic panic in his bathroom days prior. Instead of voicing such a comment, he choked out a laugh and wrapped his arms around the man nosing into his hair. Stan clapped the back of Richie’s shoulders at least thrice before they finally separated, a grin claiming space of Richie’s entire face.

  
“Stan the man, life of the party, has finally decided to grace us!” Richie called over his shoulder in pure delight to the table where the rest were rising from their seats and opening their arms. Stan chuckled shyly and moved to greet faces only familiar from the love in their eyes. Bev managed to snag him first, sucking in a sharp breath and releasing it into the hidden crook of Stan’s neck. She released a short nervous laugh before giving a final squeeze and passing him off to Eddie. Eddie was short-lived but enthusiastic, pressing every inch up to his cheeks against the new arrival.

  
Stan was then turned into Ben’s arms, a closing cage of comfort and warmth. Stan couldn’t help but be infected by Ben’s heartfelt smile, whose large hands were gripping at Stan’s shoulder and reluctant to let go. Mike had bubbles of joy-ridden laughter, surprising Stan into looking up into crinkled eyes and risen cheeks before he was once again swallowed by a strong embrace. Being in Mike’s arms had a slightly stronger pang of home-y feelings, full of unspoken emotion. The man from the phone call four days prior visibly relaxed with relief as he looked down at Stan once more before turning to the seventh of the group.

  
It was only then that Stan felt the first creepings of anxiety prick its way into his system. He wondered how different hearing the words that saved him from a blood-filled bath would sound coming from the tired yet soft face before him. Feelings buried with his childhood bubbled in his throat, and he stared at Bill like a frightened doe on a highway. There was an eternity of tension suffocating Stanley, time freezing around the restaurant and everything outside it. It all shattered with a soft, “Stan.”

  
Bill reached for his shoulder and pulled him in, cradling Stan’s head against his own. There was no choice to return the hug, Stan’s arms rushing up on auto-pilot, and Bill held him ever tighter. They melted against each other, surroundings forgotten and relying on their embrace to keep them upright. Simultaneously only a couple seconds and centuries, they separated both too soon and suspiciously slowly. Although Stan didn’t yet know it, this long-lasting residual draw to Bill had finally been satiated, and the yearning stares of his teen years would never manifest again. And after the whole ordeal of being rushed with memories of fear and fondness, and fulfilling a childhood oath, Stan would be content with it.

  
The smile-filled silence slipped away as everyone took their seats, Stan between Richie and Eddie. Richie bumped their shoulders together playfully before they all truly settled back into the table. With wrappings hidden under sweater sleeves, Stan indulged in some rice as conversation effortlessly picked back up. And although it was still eerily wrong, and he missed his dear wife states away, and the week would surely not be a pleasant one, Stan felt at home, overflowing with love, as he realized even nearly thirty years would never break his loser family.


End file.
